This year we walk through the ministry of Jesus, with Saint Luke as our main guide.  Luke is the author of both the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles.  At the beginning of both books he speaks to “Theophilus”.  Theophilus could have been a particular man.  However, the word Theophilus means “lover of God.”  In a sense, St. Luke wrote his works for you and me who are indeed “Lovers of God.”

Immediately after being Baptized by John, Jesus leaves the Jordan River for  the Judean wilderness.  Luke tells us that Jesus leaves the river “filled with the Holy Spirit.”  When Jesus emerges from His ordeal against the devil, “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit.”

The next scene is Jesus unrolling the scroll of Isaiah in His home synagogue at Nazareth.  This scene provides a prologue for the entire ministry of Jesus: anointed by the Spirit, He would preach and heal, but some would reject Him and seek His death.  Luke shows us that Jesus is firmly rooted in the Jewish world.  He goes to His synagogue as He was accustomed to do and He reads the prophetic scroll which describes the work of the prophetic servant Isaiah, which He will now fulfill.

This will be demonstrated through the words and deeds of Jesus throughout the rest of the Gospel.  The ministry of Jesus would be the fulfillment of the Jubilee year, the time specified in Leviticus 25 when debts would be forgiven and slaves given their freedom.  Jesus’ announcement of a “year acceptable to the Lord” is a time when the spiritual debt of sin would be forgiven and when those held in bondage of sickness and evil would be freed.

God Bless,

Msgr. Powell